Family of Lies (27 page)

E
VEN THOUGH
D
R.
L
OTT HAD TOLD ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THE
bleeding, I was worried now because I’d been bleeding every day for a week. I had already gone through menopause and had not had a period in over ten years. I hated walking around with a bloody pussy again after so many years, so I was anxious to have something done to end it. The main reason was that I wanted to get on with my sex life.

I believed that the longer I let this unpleasant issue go, the worse it would get. Yesterday I had bled so heavily, the tampon I’d inserted had been useless. I’d found that out at the most inconvenient time. I had gone to a specialty market in Chinatown to pick up a few gourmet items, like some black goat cheese and caviar. While I was standing in the checkout line, I got this funny feeling between my thighs. It felt like I was peeing on myself. Anyway, I looked down and was horrified when I saw blood dripping onto my handmade Italian sandals, not to mention my silk-wrapped toenails. I almost fainted. I didn’t even wait around to pay for the items I had picked up. I dropped them onto the counter and flew out the door like the place was on fire.

I didn’t want to mess up the seat in my spotless Ferrari, so I ran to a newspaper rack on the sidewalk and got four copies of the
San Francisco Chronicle
. I used the newspapers as padding on my car seat. I made it back home and into my bathroom by the skin of my teeth. Not only had the blood soaked through my tampon, it had pushed the tampon completely out. It sat in the crotch of my panties along with a blood clot the size, shape, and color of a plum. I immediately called my doctor’s office. Dr. Lott was on a conference call, but I made such a fuss, his receptionist put me on hold and a minute later Dr. Lott was on the line.

“Look, Dr. Lott, I’ve been bleeding like a damn hemophiliac all day!” I roared. “I’m scared to leave the house or sit on anything for more than a few minutes because I’m flowing so heavily. Blood dripped through my underwear and down my legs while I was in a checkout line a little while ago.”

“Hmmm. Well, in addition to a tampon, for more security try wearing a maxipad as well,” the good doctor said in a calm voice, which was easy for him or any other man to do. There was not a man alive who could truly understand what we women had to go through with our bodies. Not even the men who had undergone that sex change operation that turned them into women. “That should take care of the problem. If it doesn’t, we’ll consider other protective options.”

“Other protective options? Bah! If you’re talking about adult diapers, no way. Now, there has got to be something you can do to end this mess! I need to take care of this problem immediately!”

“Mrs. Lomax, calm down. I’ve explained to you that this is a very common problem among women your age—”

“Bullshit! I don’t care if it is. I want it to end and I want it to end NOW!”

“As I’ve told you, we can do a minor procedure to eliminate the problem. I can remove the fibroids that are causing the bleeding. But that would be like going after a fly with a shotgun. I’ve also told you that because you’re at the postmenopausal stage, all of your fibroid tumors will eventually shrink to a point where they will hardly even be detectable. As a matter of fact, the last time I examined you, I noticed they had already shrunk considerably from their original size. However, if the bleeding becomes more serious within the next day or so and begins to disrupt your usual activities, including ones of a, uh, sexual nature, let me know.”

My sexual activities had already been disrupted long enough. I wanted to see Ricky as much as he wanted to see me. And the one thing I knew about young men was that if they got too horny and couldn’t control themselves, they’d stick their dick into the first available female if they had to. The bleeding got so bad after I got off the telephone with Dr. Lott, I called him back twenty minutes later and told him he had to do something or I was going to change doctors.

He modified his schedule and arranged for me to have “emergency” surgery the following day, which was a Wednesday. I’d check into the hospital in the morning and be out by the middle of the afternoon.

Kenneth and Bo had left for L.A. the day before. I saw no reason for me to tell either one of them, or anybody else, that I was going to have the surgery. My numerous and frequent cosmetic surgeries were no secret, but when I had to deal with a female-related issue, I chose to keep that information to myself. For one thing, I didn’t want Kenneth to cut his trip short and come back home. And I didn’t want Collette to know because I didn’t like the way she always brought up my age whenever I had a medical issue, even my cosmetic surgeries.

Despite the fact that having a few fibroid tumors removed was a minor surgery, Dr. Lott had made it clear that afterward I couldn’t drive myself home or be sent home in a taxi. Our chauffeur was on vacation, so he couldn’t drive me to and from the hospital like he did when I had my cosmetic procedures. Since I didn’t trust any of my few female acquaintances, Sarah was the only person I could turn to. She had nothing but time on her hands these days and I knew she’d keep her mouth shut if I told her to.

“Are you sure you don’t want Daddy to know about you having surgery?” she asked as she drove me to the hospital that Wednesday morning. “What if something goes wrong? You could die like James Brown’s wife did during her minor surgery. Kanye West’s mama died during surgery too. And what about Usher’s ex-wife? She almost died, too, when she—”

“I am not going to die, Sarah. I’ve been having surgeries done most of my life and I’m still here. Besides, Kenneth has enough to worry about without me adding to it.”

My surgery went well. As soon as the anesthesia wore off, I tumbled out of the hospital bed and hobbled to the bathroom. I was delighted not to see even a speck of blood. I was as good as new.

Sarah picked me up a little after 4:00 p.m. and drove me home. As soon as I got inside, I scrambled up the stairs to the third floor, puffing like a dying horse. I scolded myself because I had not insisted on Kenneth having an elevator installed so we would not have to climb so many damn steps to get to our bedroom. Sarah was right behind me yelling, “Vera, stop running! Take it easy before you hemorrhage or something.”

I ignored her command. I didn’t stop running until I reached my bedroom bathroom. “You can have these,” I said to Sarah with a chuckle, handing her what was left in the box of tampons and heavy-duty Kotex I had purchased. I exhaled and was smiling until I saw my reflection in the mirror over the sink. I didn’t like what I saw. Without makeup, I looked like an old hag. I was anxious for Sarah to leave my side so I could resume my normal daily activities. And the first thing I wanted to do was take a long hot shower and put on some makeup.

“I probably won’t need any of those things for a while,” she told me with a faint smile. I had started to walk away, but Sarah’s words made me stop in my tracks.

“Why not? Are you pregnant again?” I asked, wanting to cross my fingers.

“No. I just got off my period yesterday. But when Bo gets back home, I want to get started on getting pregnant again.”

“Oh,” I said, smiling to hide my disappointment that she was not pregnant. “I hope you’ll get pregnant again real soon.”

Dr. Lott told me I had to wait a whole month before I could have sex again. It was going to be one of the most difficult things I ever had to do in my life. And since Ricky was so damn irresistible, I knew I couldn’t even be in his presence without wrestling him to his bed. I decided to not even visit his apartment for that month.

“Aw shit, baby. What am I going to do for a whole month? It’s already been too long since the last time we had some fun,” he whined when I called him up and told him. I had called him from my cell phone in my bedroom. “Can’t you even come by and just
play
with me a little bit?”

When it came to sex, I didn’t “play.” I didn’t do hand jobs because I had decided when I was a young girl that that was beneath me. That was for teenage boys, inmates, and perverts. I gave a mean blow job, but I didn’t even want to visit Ricky tonight if that was all I could do. There was nothing in a blow job for me. And my pussy was too sensitive from the surgery for me to let him eat me out. It would be hard, but I could survive for a month. Then I would make up for all the lost time. The very thought of all the fun I was going to have made me tingle.

“I’ll see you in a month,” I promised, spreading my thighs and gently fingering myself to make sure I was still dry. “But I’ll call you up every day.”

“Will you talk dirty to me when you call?”

That was another thing. “Talking dirty” was beneath me, too, but I didn’t mind doing it if it turned my man on. I especially didn’t mind doing it when Ricky was on top of me, but I couldn’t see myself sitting with a telephone in my hand talking trash. I hadn’t done anything that vile since some of my desperate girlfriends and I had worked as telephone sex operators in high school.

I’d find something to keep myself busy for the month, which meant I’d do some serious shopping.

An hour after Sarah had brought me home and fixed me some hot green tea, she left the house to go get her nails done, or so she claimed. I prayed, for her sake, that she was not still sniffing after that lowlife security guard or anybody else. I didn’t know what kind of sex life she had with Bo these days, but if she was half as frustrated as I was, I could understand her going outside of her marriage. I just hoped that she was as sly as I was and didn’t get caught.

I couldn’t stop thinking about something Bo had told me after we’d confronted Sarah about getting too friendly with Curtis.
“If she ever leaves me, I’m going to kill her.”

I didn’t think he’d go that far. But if he did, we would
all
be up shit creek without a paddle.

A
COUPLE OF HOURS HAD PASSED SINCE
I
’D BROUGHT
V
ERA HOME
from the hospital. Since she was in the living room at the bar, and had been for the past hour, I assumed she was doing just fine. I wasn’t, though. I needed to go somewhere I could be completely alone. My head had so many disturbing thoughts and questions floating around in it, I had to sort them out as soon as I could before I lost my mind. I couldn’t even think clearly with her lurking about. And I didn’t want to hole up in my bedroom or any other room in the house.

Vera saw me leaving. But from the way she kept her cell phone glued to her ear as she waved me toward the front door, I had a feeling she wanted to be alone for a while too.

At first I just cruised along, meandering from one street to another, thinking about one thing after another. I couldn’t stop thinking about the letter Gladys had sent to Bo and how he had not told me about it yet. Was he going to meet with her in L.A.? If so, would she talk him into reconciliation? And even if they didn’t get back together, what if he made love to her while he was in L.A.? If he did and I found out, I was going to be pissed and our marriage would be over for sure. If he didn’t, the respect and trust that I had lost for him in the last few months would be somewhat restored.

And then there was Curtis. Despite his apprehension about continuing our relationship as long as I was still with Bo, he had admitted that he wanted to see me again. I hadn’t spoken to him since our conversation Monday evening right after Daddy and Bo left to go to L.A., but I planned to call him up again real soon. I needed to know for sure if there was a chance that we’d have a future together. If I lost Bo to Gladys, would Curtis still want to be with me? I wanted to keep Curtis so I’d have him to fall back on in case Gladys took Bo away from me. On the other hand, if Curtis decided he didn’t want to continue his relationship with me, I wanted to have Bo to fall back on.

In the meantime, I’d continue to be with Bo and Curtis as long as I could get away with it, like I had originally planned.

And there was another important factor in this equation: I had to produce a baby by Bo to keep Daddy and Vera happy. And to keep Bo happy, too, in case I ended up settling for just him and severing my relationship with Curtis. Besides, I really did want a child. I thought that motherhood might help me decide exactly what I wanted to do about my future and which man I wanted to share it with.

I finally got tired of driving and decided to go get my nails done.

As I sat in Maria’s Nail Shop on Valencia Street in the Mission District waiting my turn, I fished my cell phone out of my purse and called the Marriott airport hotel that Daddy and Bo had checked into. Since it was so late in the day, I assumed they’d be out of their meetings by now. Daddy answered his line right away.

“It’s me, Daddy. I was thinking about you and decided to call so I could hear your voice.” I sniffed. “How’s the conference going?”

“It’s going just fine. The speaker, a gentleman from Harvard, is a real visionary when it comes to being more innovative in the world of business. I’m glad I brought my tape recorder with me. I wish you could have come with us.”

“Hmmm. Well, maybe next time I’ll go with you.”

“Baby, is everything all right? You sound sad. Is something the matter?”

“No, everything is just fine, Daddy.” I bit my bottom lip. “Where’s Bo?”

“He’s in his room, I guess.”

“Has he been with you all the time? Are you keeping an eye on him?”

Daddy hesitated and grunted under his breath before he answered my questions. “Girl, why are you asking me something like that? Bo is a grown man, so why do I need to keep an eye on him?”

“I was just wondering if you and him were spending a lot of time together.”

“We’re not on a vacation, honey. We’re down here on business. I see him during the sessions, of course, but after each one ends, it’s every man for himself. I’m having dinner with an old friend from college who lives in L.A. now.”

“Don’t go to an Italian restaurant. Bo will be farting for days.”

“Bo’s not going with us. I invited him, but he’s going to hook up with an old friend too.”

An old friend?

I knew that if the “old friend” was Bo’s ex, he probably would not have mentioned it to Daddy. But I had to ask anyway. “Who is this old friend Bo’s going out with?”

“He didn’t tell me. He just told me a little while ago. All I know is that it’s an old friend of his from Houston. But if I see him in time, I’ll tell him not to do Italian. I do enough farting for the both of us.” Daddy chuckled.

I slid my tongue across my bottom lip, fuming. The old friend from Houston had to be Gladys. My lips began to quiver while I tried to decide what to say next.

“Hello? Sarah, you still there? You got mighty quiet all of a sudden.”

“I’m still here, Daddy. Will you tell Bo I called?”

“Baby, he’s your husband. Why don’t you just call his room and tell him yourself. I’m sure he’d love to hear your voice.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Sarah, is there something going on that you don’t want to tell me about?”

“No, nothing is going on.”

“Then why did you call me before you even called up your husband? He told me he left you two messages yesterday and so did I for that matter, and you’re just now calling back. But you should be calling him instead of me, don’t you think?”

“I figured he was probably busy. . . .”

“Well, I could have been busy, too, but you still called me.” Daddy laughed again. “Honey, there’s a lot you need to learn about marriage.” He paused and then all of a sudden he sounded like a love-struck schoolboy. “By the way, where is my beautiful bride? Lord do I miss that sweet little woman!”

“Vera? She was watching television when I left the house. Daddy, I hate to rush off the phone, but the girl is ready to do my nails. I’ll talk to you later.” The girl was ready to do my nails, but I signaled for her to give me a few more minutes. I immediately called the hotel operator again. I had her patch me through to Bo’s room. He didn’t answer and I didn’t leave a message. I hung up and dialed the hotel operator again. “Can you tell me if a Gladys Harper has checked in yet?”

“One moment please.” The operator put me on hold for about ten seconds. “Yes. She checked in last night. I’ll transfer you to—”

“That’s okay!” I yelled. Then I hung up.

I didn’t really want to talk to Vera, so when I called the house and she didn’t answer, I was glad. I left a voice mail message and told her I was going to the movies. I even drove to the Metreon theaters downtown and bought a ticket (for a movie I’d already seen) so I’d have a stub in case I needed it. I returned to my car, hopped in, and barreled toward the freeway that would take me to Curtis’s neighborhood in less than ten minutes.

I was going to call him up first to make sure he was home and alone. The last thing I wanted to do was drop in and find him with company, especially a female. Even his mama. When I got to his block, I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby liquor store and dialed his number. His answering machine was supposed to pick up on the fourth ring, but it didn’t. On the seventh ring his mother answered, sounding as hostile as ever.

“HALLO!” she growled. “Who is this?!” I was tempted to hang up without saying anything. Curtis had caller ID, so she would know who was calling—if she could read.

“I’m a friend of Curtis’s,” I said in a meek voice. “Is he home?”

“Nope. He gone somewhere.”

“Do you expect him to return soon?”

“I don’t expect nothing but to go take my bath like I was fixing to do when this phone rung!”

“I’m sorry I interrupted your bath, ma’am.” It took all of my strength for me to remain civil. “Would you please tell him that Sarah called and I’ll call back again?”

“Just don’t call back here while I’m taking my bath! This is my only night off this week and all I want to do is relax!” The woman slammed the telephone down so hard I heard a popping noise in my ear.

After I got my nails done and left the shop, I did some window-shopping along Mission Street. It was after nine, so most of the businesses had closed for the day. I called Curtis’s number two more times on my way home. Each time I was harshly told by his mother that he was “gone somewhere.”

I turned my telephone off.

When I got home and into my bedroom, I turned it back on. There was a message from Bo. He had also left a message for me on the landline. He was the last man in the world I wanted to talk to at the moment, but I called his room anyway. He didn’t answer, so I called Daddy again.

“Have you seen or spoken to Bo since I talked to you today?” I asked.

“I ran into him in the elevator on my way up a little while ago. He was on his way back out to meet his friend from Houston again. Boy was he in good spirits! He was grinning from ear to ear.” I heard some muffled voices on Daddy’s end. “Baby, I have to go. I’m supposed to meet a few folks for drinks downstairs and I’m already late.”

I didn’t even bother to look for Vera. Her car was in the garage, so I assumed she was in her bedroom. I went back downstairs and Cash and Vera were in the living room watching some reality show.

I returned to my room, took a hot shower, and climbed into bed. Now that I knew Gladys was in L.A., my thoughts were not as unclear as they’d been earlier in the day. I pretty much knew what I wanted to do now. Because of Bo’s actions, and the way he was keeping important information about his ex-wife from me, it was going to be easy for me to choose. If he wanted to get back with Gladys, I was not going to stand in his way. I didn’t believe in fighting for a man. If he didn’t want to be with me, I didn’t want to be with him.

It looked like Curtis was the man I was going to be with after all.